In the black culture, certain kids are given nicknames that they roll with forever; the nicknames outweigh their real names. I’m one of those scenarios.
When I was a small boy, if we had a problem, we would fight about it with our fists. We wouldn’t shoot somebody, killing them or wounding them. That’s not hard to do. I would like people to put down the guns. If you have a problem, talk about it or fight about it.
A lot of people like to fool you and say that you’re not smart if you never went to college, but common sense rules over everything. That’s what I learned from selling crack.
The most important decision I’ve made in business? The choices of people I have around me. When I first started I brought everybody with me, my homies from the neighborhood, criminals. I just said, ‘Come on everybody, we made it.’ Then I had to realize we didn’t make it. I made it.
What people don’t understand is joining a gang ain’t bad, it’s cool, it’s fine. When you in the hood, joining a gang it’s cool because all your friends are in the gang, all your family’s in the gang. We’re not just killing people every night, we’re just hanging out, having a good time.
Anytime you’re with somebody, you become a reflection of that person. I believe the first five years of our relationship was me grooming her, getting her tough and getting her ready for all of this and how to deal with it. The last was just her being a strong Black woman who has her man’s back.
My mama couldn’t give me what I wanted. I had all right clothes, but the people I was with had better clothes. I felt that I had to have better clothes.
